Counterfeiting is a growing business and economic concern. Various products and items are subject to counterfeiting. For example, tax stamps for products such as liquor and tobacco, apparel, footwear, ink cartridges, currency, automotive parts, and electronics can all be subject to counterfeiting. Counterfeit products are often difficult to detect and are typically of inferior quality. Counterfeit products have an adverse impact on both consumers and manufacturers, and could even be harmful and/or dangerous to unsuspecting consumers.
Manufacturers attempt to discourage and prevent counterfeiting through various techniques. For example, some manufacturers of products targeted by counterfeiters have utilized specific markings, holograms, stamps, or other features on their products. Nevertheless, these techniques can typically be circumvented by counterfeiters. Another anti-counterfeiting technique that has been the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags; however, RFID tags can be expensive, and the technology needed to identify the data transmitted by each RFID tag is not readily available to consumers.
Accordingly, there is a need for cost-effective and accurate authentication of products that is accessible and easy to use by consumers, while being difficult for counterfeiters to circumvent.